The life and times of kieran grant
by Cephandrious
Summary: Right in front of you is my autobiography, written in novel format for your viewing pleasure. If you are part of the wizarding world you may have heard of me and my exploits. If you are not part of the wizarding world, well, you cant prove anything in this story ever truly happened so I think that makes it okay to publish in your world as well.
1. Chapter one: The mechanics of it all

Harry Potter and Mistborn, boy oh boy are they good. And lucrative, not for me though. I don't own jack squat.

The idea for this story came after reading Three to Backstep by Sinyk (my goodness, I didn't know fanfiction could be that good) and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (my goodness, I didn't know _any_ story could be that good) back to back. The ideas from Mistborn and the world and characters from Three to Backstep (I say Three to Backstep and not Harry Potter for a couple reasons, reason number one being the soul magic Sinyk created) started to blend together in my mind. Invent a new character to change things up, throw it all in a pot, stir, and season to taste. You've got yourself a fic.

Chapter one: A large, less than thrilling explanation of the mechanics

(If you are already familiar with the Mistborn series you can skip this, I'll add a tl;dr at the bottom explaining the bits you don't already know)

Hello, my name is Kieran Grant. And this, this is my story. I guess I should start with the mechanics, after all, I've had to explain them enough times already in person. I have a rather unusual skill set, a skill set that runs on batteries.

Well, not quite batteries. The skills (or abilities, rather) run off of certain metals. You see, I'm what I call a mistborn (I'm the only one you know, so I got to pick the name). There are sixteen different metals that I can "burn" to achieve different effects, but in order to burn them I have to swallow them first. Not that I have sixteen different abilities, most of the metals contrast eachother (and, at the time this story starts I haven't figured out all sixteen).

For example, when I burn steel I instantly see translucent blue lines leading from my center of gravity (usually, I can change the origin if I concentrate) to all the different pieces of metal around me. Selecting a blue line (or two, or several) mentally and pushing on it (hard to describe, sorry) will send the piece of metal the line leads to flying. Unless the piece of metal weighs more than me or hits something that weighs more than me. Then I go flying away from the metal.

The rules governing my abilities seem to follow some form of the laws of physics, but not strictly. Remember how I said I have sixteen metals but not really sixteen different abilities? Well, maybe explaining iron will clear that up. When I burn iron the opposite effect of steel happens, the blue lines still appear but now if I select a line it pulls the metal toward me. Or, if it's heavier, me towards it. So pushing and pulling on metals is really one ability, but it takes two metals. Clear as mud? Awesome.

All the metals I've found are paired with another metal that is either an alloy of said metal or part of said metals alloy. The next two metals I managed to figure out by the time this story begins are pewter and tin. I quite like these metals, particularly pewter. Whenever I burn pewter it gives me heightened strength, speed, agility, balance, and endurance. It's freaking awesome. Unfortunately, it burns really quickly.

Pewters cousin is tin, which enhances all of my senses at once. Tin burns really slowly, but aside from that it's not really pewters "opposite". The next two metals I figured out at the time are zinc and brass. These two metals are rather interesting, burning them lets me tweak people's emotions. Burning zinc lets me "riot" or enflame choice emotions in people, making them feel that emotion much stronger. Brass does the opposite, soothing choice emotions. Now, I have a strict policy about not using those last two metals to try to influence people into doing my bidding. However, if someone is having a panic attack I find it a good time to turn on the brass. Or if a friend needs some confidence for their oral report that's a good time to start burning zinc. For the most part though, those two metals go untouched.

The last two that I knew I could burn and also knew how they worked (foreshadowing? You'll have to wait and see. I already know how this ends.) are aluminum and duralumin. Now, aluminum is worthless. Any time I burn that I automatically lose all my metals. Poof, gone. It's alloy however, that's interesting. Burning duralumin automatically burns up whatever metals I'm also burning at the time, just like aluminum. The difference is, I still get all the power from those metals that suddenly flash out of my system. I can do some REALLY fun things with pewter and duralumin.

Just burning pewter, I can lift the back end of a car. Not a big ole truck, think of something like an Altima or a Civic. If I flare my pewter I can lift the back end of a car after an expensive trip to the hardware store. Flaring lets me eke some more power out of the metal, but it also burns it up faster. Plus, it's just kinda hard to be constantly flaring. So, what happens if I burn pewter and duralumin at the same time? Well, assuming I've got a decent amount of pewter in me I can flip that car. Lengthwise. Of course, then I'm out of pewter. So I gotta use duralumin with caution.

Burning duralumin instantly super-flares any metal I'm also burning at the time, but pewter is the easiest to visualize. Well, that's enough of the mechanics for you to know what I'm talking about when I fight the dragon in the next chapter.

tl;dr

As of the time this story starts I know I can burn all the basic metals, (steel, iron, pewter, tin, zinc, brass, copper, bronze) but I don't know what the effects of copper and bronze are. I also know about aluminum and duralumin, as well as their effects. You know what, scroll back to the top and read the chapter. Whatcha gonna do, get on with your life? I don't think so. You've got time for this.


	2. Chapter two: A thrilling action scene

Harry Potter and Mistborn, boy oh boy are they good. And lucrative, not for me though. I don't own jack squat.

Chapter two: A thrilling action scene

There I was walking around the streets of London. I'd just experienced my tragic backstory and I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't see it at the time, but my tragic backstory was perfectly timed to lead right into my entertaining... Front story? I dunno. Anyway, I was walking around London with tin slowly burning in my stomach.

" _What am I going to do_?" I wondered. _"Here I am with a tragic backstory and no idea_ _what do do with myself."_ (I'm paraphrasing my actual thoughts, they contained spoilers. I just didn't know it at the time.) All of a sudden: " _Is that screaming_?" My head whipped around to face the noise, I never would have heard anything without tin. Flaring my tin, I listened again. _"No doubt about it, someone is in trouble. Lots of people by the sound of it."_

I bolted towards the noise, turning on my pewter for the burst of speed as I flew past people and into what seemed to be a pub, the leaky... I dunno, something. I didn't quite see. People inside turned and reached out to me but I blew right past them and out a back door. I was in an empty alley. Empty, save for a couple of trash bags and a trash can leaning against the large brick wall forming the dead end.

" _C'mon, focus! I know I heard the screaming coming from this direction_!" There! I heard the screaming again, followed by a loud roar from some kind of animal. A lion? I still wouldn't have heard anything without my tin. Snatching the lid off of the metal trashcan I positioned it on the ground and readied my steel. Using the lid as my anchor I pushed on it with my steel and leaped over the tall brick wall.

On the other side were, buildings? Weird ones too. " _What the_..." I thought, dashing down the street inbetween them. There were a lot of people running about dressed in robes. " _Is there some kinda convention going on here_?" I Wondered, still sprinting madly down the street.

The farther I got down the street, the louder the screams and the roars of the animal. "Alright" I thought "I bet it's an escaped zoo animal, maybe I can calm it down with my brass and lead it back to its cage"

The closer I got the more people started running past me in the other direction. I was going to ask what was happening, but I always passed them too quickly. Finally, I turned the corner. That, was no zoo.

A very large building, a bank from the looks of it, was spewing smoke from inside. That explained the screaming, but what about the roars? Just then an ear-shattering roar came from inside. " _Ah, lovely. Also, wtf?!"_ I turned to an elderly man standing nearby, watching the building with abject horror.

"Excuse me, sir?" He just kept staring at the building. "SIR" That got his attention. "Oh, ah, I uh, didn't see you there" "Sir, what's going on in there?" "What's going on? What's going on?! A d-d-dragon is escaping gringotts and it's going to burn down all of diagon alley!" "Hang on, a dragon escaped and it's going to burn down diagonally? Never mind, are there still people in there?" "Y-yes, I believe two young girls are still stuck in there but nobody wants to try to fight a dragon to save them!"

" _Alright_ " I thought to myself, already turning towards 'gringotts' " _this guy might be crazy, believing in dragons and all. But if there's even a remote chance that people are in there I have to try to help_." Fishing in my pocket I pulled out a handful of quarters and a few beads of metal. I didn't have anything to wash the beads down with, but I figured I was gonna need some extra pewter and steel. Dropping a quarter to the ground it snapped to the pavement before I launched into the air, bypassing the large flights of steps.

I ducked inside the building, watching my blue lines closely. There. I saw a few lines start to move around the perimeter of the room. Launching into the air yet again. I landed in a crouch next to two girls, a blonde and a brunette. "Listen, I'm here to help, is anyone else inside?" The blonde spoke up. "N-no. Why are you here? There's a dragon!" " _Oh yeah_..." I turned around as the loudest roar yet sounded from the back of the building, maybe fifty feet from where we were. " _Maybe that old man wasn't so crazy after all"_

"Stand up, I'm gonna get you out of here." The girls clambered to their feet. I dropped a couple quarters to the ground and grabbed each girl with one arm. "Hold on tight!" I yelled, burning pewter to make sure I didn't lose my grip. All three of us went sailing into the air on my steelpush when the loudest crunching sound I've ever heard in my entire life came from behind us. Something heavy hit me in the back, causing the three of us to come crashing to the ground. "Are you two alright?" Nods. I turned around and nearly wet myself. Sure enough, no doubt about it. That old man knew exactly what he was talking about.

I have very strong memories of that day, and particularly of that moment when I first saw the dragon. It looked like a cross between Smaug and that one dragon that sets itself on fire from how to train your dragon. The resemblance to the two was uncanny, except for the fact that this beast was an ashy gray. I turned back to the girls. "Run for it! I'll try to take care of satan-zilla over here" the girls both looked at me like I was crazy. To be fair, they were right. "GO!" I yelled, hitting them with some brass to try to tone down their shock. The girls scrambled away, leaving me to face the hell beast on my own. One movie quote flashed through my mind, followed immediately by another. " _Not a great plan_ " and _"I have a baaaad feeling about this._ "

I yanked my quarters from before over with a little burst of iron. "I'll need everything I got to beat this sucker." I muttered to myself. Only the dragons head had come through the wall, I had one or two more seconds to prepare. There were a few metal statues, they should make good anchors. I searched desperately for a weapon but I couldn't find anything. "C'mon C'MON!" I growled under my breath. "There's gotta be something!"

The rest of the dragon burst through, decapatating a statue as it did so. A goblin looking head bounced over to my feet. " _Well, there's something_." Pulling it up towards my hands with iron I lobbed the head towards the dragons own skull with as much strength as I could muster, and a burst of steel for good measure. It smacked the dragon squarely in the forehead, a forehead that instantly swiveled towards me.

"YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS!?!" I bellowed. Apparently the dragon did indeed want a piece of this, but he wanted it flame broiled first for all that delicious smoky flavor. A huge gout of fire shot towards me, I had to push on a statue to my left with steel to roll away in time, but I still got singed. "Alright, let's dance!"

I yanked the goblin statue head back into my hands. " _Let's try this one or two more times_!" Once again, I threw the head at the dragon, once again it made crushing contact. I had to keep dodging fire blasts while the dragon advanced on me. I threw the head yet again, but this time the dragon snatched it out of the air with its fearsome mouth. " _Ah shit_..." I can't affect metals that are inside a living body. Okay, new plan.

I ducked a swing of the dragons claw and felt the wind rush over my hair. I also noticed something, the dragon had extra metal 'claw armor' on, and I could target it with my steel and iron. Pushing myself backwards off of one claw and pulling on another I managed to yank a claw off. Not just the armor either. " _Gross_!" Oh well, any port in a storm.

Launching myself towards the dragon I attempted to slice it's belly open with its own claw. No dice. Instead the dragon flopped onto me, crushing me as best it could. Luckily, pewter was keeping me alive, but flaring it as I was it wasn't going to last for more than three minutes, tops. The dragon let up and I push-rolled myself out from under it. I shakily stood up, just in time to get home-run-batted into the back wall by the dragons tail.

" _Lovely_ " a burst of tin brought me back to my senses, and hurt like hell while doing so. The dragon was facing me, it almost seemed like it was grinning. I had $.75 in quarters, two and a half minutes of pewter (without flaring), some steel, and a bead of duralumin. "Oh, this couldn't _poooosibly_ end horribly." I grumbled to myself, a 'plan' forming in my mind.

I started running towards the dragon, it's mouth opened wide, a fire ball brewing in the back of its throat. Throwing my quarters on the ground I launched into the air, floating at ceiling height (about fifty feet, it was a _very_ nice bank, well, it used to be.) directly above the dragons head. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the quarters up to meet me, then stuck them to the ceiling and pushed myself down.

I felt like I was moving in slow motion. My body got ramrod straight as I burned my duralumin, accelerating downwards towards the dragon at an un-godly speed. My fists hit the top of its skull, then something much softer and hotter, then the bottom of its skull.

My arms were burning, my body aching. " _Did I really just punch through the skull of a dragon with my bare hands_?" I pulled my arms out of the goopy mess. " _I suppose I did_ "

I staggered out of the bank, down the stairs, and collapsed on the ground outside. My vision started going blurry as I saw something brown and something whitish come in on both sides of my vision. "I-I, I killed... It... For... You..."

My vision faded to black. The last thing I heard was someone yelling that they were going to try CPR.

" _Oye_ "


	3. Chapter three: The plot advances

Harry Potter and Mistborn, boy oh boy are they good. And lucrative! Not for me though, I don't own jack squat.

Chapter three: The plot advances.

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed, surrounded by curtains. " _I must be in a hospital_ " I thought. Looking around me I was able to spot a small table to my left with my belongings and a hefty stack of letters resting on top of it. I couldn't make out any of the words written on the letters, it was far to dark for that. " _I guess I'll wait to look at those."_ Looking down at my arms I noticed that they were wrapped in bandages, starting at the wrists and working their way up to my shoulders, with a small gap around my elbows. " _How did that happen?"_ I wondered. Then it hit me, the dragon, the bank, the two girls, the dragon again. " _Oye, no wonder I'm in the hospital."_ As far as I could tell it was very early morning. Looking up over the top of the curtains surrounding my bed I spotted a couple of crystalline balls that were glowing faintly. " _That's a weird chandelier."_ Seeing nothing else in the darkness, I went back to sleep.

I've always been a fairly light sleeper, so when I heard people starting to move about on either side of me I instantly woke up. It was much lighter now, but still dark enough to sleep if you really wanted to. Looking back at the table to my left I spotted my glasses. " _It's a miracle those didn't break."_ Putting them on it became evident that someone had cleaned them for me. In the light I was able to make out the senders of some of the letters. I had received letters from; The Ministry of Magic, " _what is this, a larp invitation?"_ Gringotts bank, " _that makes sense."_ And Florean Fortesque. " _What?"_

Before I could start reading I heard copious amounts of rustling to my right. Glancing over I saw two hands pulling the curtains apart, followed by a head covered in bushy brown hair. The girl just stared at me for several moments, I did the same. " _Well, there's no sense in holding a staring contest."_ I decided to speak up first. "Good morning." The girl popped back out of my curtains. Then she yelled "Daphne!" And _another_ head popped in to take the first ones place, but this new one was on the left. "Good morning to you as well." I said. Daphne's head popped out to.

I patted at my hair, " _it couldn't possibly be_ that _bad, could it?"_ "Not to be rude or anything, but could someone please explain to me what on earth is going on?"

Both girls came into the curtains again. "Do you just want to move them out of the way?" I asked. The girls nodded and and pulled the curtains back. I was indeed in a hospital, I saw several other curtained off areas and a single window at the end of the room. "Alright, so what's going on and why are you two acting so strangely?"

The girl to the right (brown hair) blushed. "Sorry," she said. Gesturing to the foot of my bed she asked; "Do you mind if I sit there?" "No, not at all." Both girls sat down. The brown haired girl spoke first:

"My name is Hermione, what do you remember from the bank?" " _Oh yeah!_ That's _why I recognize these two!"_ "Uh, I just woke up so my memory is still a little foggy, but the two of you were there right?" They both nodded. "And I fought a dragon." Nods again. "And then I blacked out. Oh, and I'm Kieran by the way."

The girl to my left, Daphne, grinned. "Yeah, I guess that's pretty much what happened." I smiled back. "So... What happened next?" Daphne's grin faded a little. "Well, maybe hermione should say what happened."

Hermione cleared her throat. "Ah, well, it's kind of a funny story actually. After you blacked out it looked like you stopped breathing, so I decided to perform muggle CPR on you." " _Muggle?"_

Oh yeah," I said. "I know what that is." Hermione seemed to relax a little. "Okay, that's good. Anyway, when I went to do the mouth to mouth, well, Daphne understands this part better than I do."

Daphne grimaced a little. "Well, when Hermione went to do the 'mouth to mouth' it activated a soul bond." I was confused, and it must have shown on my face because I soon got an explanation. "There are three stages of soul relationships; soul mate, soul bond, and soul bound. Most people understand the idea behind a soul mate." She glanced at me for confirmation, I nodded. "And soul bound is so rare that it doesn't even really matter for this conversation, but soul bonds do."

"When two people have a soul bond it's basically a magical garuntee that they can have a long and happy relationship. The bond neutralizes all wedding contracts, and it gives formidable protection against potions and spells that might drive the two bonded people apart. Once the bond is finalized both people are legally emancipated if they are underage and are officially recognized as adults in the magical community."

I mulled that over for a while, constantly looking between Daphne and Hermione. "Okay, I have a few questions but I'll save most of them for later." I looked at Daphne. "If I'm bonded to Hermione it makes sense for her to be here, but what about you?" Daphne's face flushed and she gestured for Hermione to explain. "Okay then. Well, as you know, when one person giving CPR gets tired another person steps in to take their place..."

I looked at Daphne again. "So, the same thing happened with you?" The platinum blonde girl nodded. "Did anyone else try?" I asked. Hermione spoke again. "No, luckily we were able to get you to St. Mungos after that, that's the hospital we're in right now."

Well. That's a LOT of information to procces. "Alright, time for my other questions. First, could you please explain the whole 'magic' thing to me?" Both girls looked confused. Daphne spoke up. "What do you mean?" "Well" I answered. "Obviously I know about my own abilities which I used to fight the dragon. But up until the very moment it stuck it's head through the wall I didn't even know dragons existed. There's also the whole 'magical garuntee' thing you mentioned. And finally, considering the amount of information I've already learned this morning, I'm willing to bet there is a whole lot more that I don't know that I should know."

Both girls looked at me in stunned silence. Finally, Hermione spoke. "Kieran, where are you from?" "I'm from the United States, I came here on vacation with my family when things went horribly wrong, and _then_ I fought a dragon." Both girls looked like they didn't know what to say. Hermione spoke up again. "Kieran... What school do you go to?" I wasn't sure why they were asking me questions but it seemed important somehow. "Uh, I just go to the local highschool back in Utah." Both girls looked strangely concerned. Finally Daphne asked me a question. "Kieran, do you have a wand?" That was the weirdest question yet. "A wand? Like, a magician? No. I do know a couple of card tricks though."


	4. Chapter four: Oh hey, magic

Hermione looked incredibly taken aback, Daphne looked like she was about to puke. "Ah, I'm sorry. I need to go for a second." Said Daphne, she lurched towards the door. I glanced confusedly at Hermione. For a split second she still looked taken aback, but she quickly composed herself.

"Card tricks, you say? I've always thought those were super interesting. If I find a deck of cards would you mind showing me?" It seemed sort of abrupt to me, but hey. I learned them for a reason. "Sure thing!" I said, grinning. Hermione wandered towards the door as well, leaving me alone. I glanced back at the desk next to my bed. On the other side of the (hefty) stack of letters I found the items I had in my pockets during the dragon showdown.

Two vials of metals (general purpose, a bit of each metal in one vial), my pocket knife, a small tape measure, a comb, a few paper clips, a bottle of superglue, and a couple magnets. My phone was gone, but I had lost that before the dragon showdown. Everything was in shockingly good condition considering it was with me during a literal dragon fight. Even my jacket lay folded up and unharmed below the desk. I felt at my metal reserves, and came up empty.

 _Nothing? I burned all my steel and pewter, but where's my iron? Where's my tin?_ I knew I hadn't been burning those when I killed the dragon. _They must have passed through. How long have I_ been _here?_ Well, good thing my extra vials survived. I popped the cork on one and downed it in a single practiced motion.

I settled down into the hospital bed and was just shutting my eyes when I heard whispers coming from out in the hall. _Wait a sec, where_ is _everyone?_ I started burning tin, my senses increasing dramatically. "...ybe he was using wandless magic. Being a potion junkie would explain how he survived, and apparently punched through a dragons skull, but it doesn't explain how he and the girls flew through the air." _Potion junkie? Wandless casting?_ Hermiones voice piped up next. "It wasn't just the flying, I swear I felt some sort of emotional tampering when he told us to run. No wizard can do that without a wand, he must have hit his head fighting the dragon and lost his memories." A new voice spoke up, it sounded like a middle aged woman. "Yes yes, but where did the wand go? The wooden core surely would have been destroyed by the fire, but there hasn't been a shred of magical residue found that would match a wand _core_. And besides, you said you don't recall him holding a wand anyway!" Hermione started to reply, but yet another voice interrupted. This time it sounded like a middle aged male. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you should probably head back in. It shouldn't take this long to find a deck of cards." Hermione sighed, and a second later she walked back in the door.

"Sorry that took so long, I was looking all over." I winced at the loud noise, and turned off my tin. "Hey, no problem." She passed the cards, and I started shuffling as best I could with my bandaged hands. She cleared her throat a bit, and started talking. "So, what kind of classes did you take back in America?" I paused my shuffling for a moment and grimaced. "Well, I used to take all sorts of cool classes. Engineering, manufacturing, robotics, the works." I fanned out the cards and held them towards her. "Pick a card, any card." She reached for one on my left and I retracted them quickly. "Ope! Not that one." She looked confused, so I sighed and held them back towards her. "Sorry, that's just a joke of mine." She took a card. "Okay, now what?" She asked. I reached behind me for a paper clip. "Now, put this on it and toss it behind you onto the floor. She looked confused but complied. I started shuffling the cards again. "So," I asked her "what classes are _you_ taking?" Her mouth started moving, but no sound came out at first.

"Uhh... biology, arithmetic, astronomy. Stuff like that." I nodded. "Here" I said, "lean towards me." As she did I reached my hand up behind her ear, pulling on the paper clip behind her with a quick burst of iron. The card shot up into my hand, which I brought back around triumphantly. "Is this your card?" She immediately whipped around to look at the floor where the card had been not ten seconds before. No card, just two pairs of shoes and one pair of slippers. Looking upwards I saw two redheaded adults and Daphne. _Ah shit, please don't spoil the trick_. Surprisingly, they looked almost as amazed as Hermione. "Can I help you two?" I asked the redheads.

The man spoke up, and I recognized him as one of the voices from the hall. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you summon that card? I don't see a wand." _Dammit._ "Well, I've got a knack for stuff regarding metal. But that's the second time I've heard the term wand used in a totally serious context today," I held up the card. "And, the person on this card is _moving_." Hermione cringed at this. In response, the man pulled a reddish brown stick from his back pocket and held it up. "This is a wand." He told me, looking to see if I reacted. Looking slightly concerned, he swished it through the air, a shower of sparks leaving the tip.

"I, and many others, use them to perform magic." The redheaded woman and both girls all held up similar sticks. The woman spoke up next, and I also recognized her voice. "Dear, it seems like you've been doing powerful magic _without_ a wand. Not only that, you've entered into a soul bond with both of these ladies right here, which complicates things immensely." The man stepped back into the conversation. "But, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. Why, we haven't even introduced ourselves! My name is Arthur Weasley, and this is my wife Molly."

I shook both of their hands. "Pleased to meet you, my name is Kieran. Evidently I'm even weirder than I thought." Arthur chuckled at this. "Well, we're no strangers to strangeness ourselves. I dare say we'll get along just fine. Mind if we sit?" For the next couple hours we all sat and talked. During that conversation I learned a lot of things. For instance, I should have been dead. Dragons are incredibly magic resistant, so it's quite doubtful that anyone would have been able to stop it. It would have likely razed a significant portion of diagonally, sorry, _Diagon alley,_ before escaping to do god knows what.

As a result of killing the dragon and saving the alley I was now rich. The carcass of the beast was rightfully mine, and a rather interesting bit of wizarding law meant that a large number of shopkeepers would be paying me a small percentage of their shops profits for the next several years. Basically I got a _hefty_ chunk of cash immediately, and a recurring source of income for the next twenty years. I got nominated for something called the order of Merlin, the minister of magic had personally invited me to attend some sort of quidditch game in a couple weeks, and I had also been invited to attend a school called Hogwarts, which was the school Daphne and Hermione attended. Basically, everyone thought I was all that and a bag of chips for defeating the dragon.


	5. Chapter five: So, about that soul bond

We talked for what must have been two or three hours about magic, about the wizarding world and about what I could do. Unfortunately, no one really wanted to talk about what I thought was the real elephant in the room, the soul bond.

Oh sure, we skated around the subject. We decided to have everyone go their separate ways until school started, at which point Daphne, Hermione, and I would all meet up at hogwarts. We talked about how I really should meet with the parents of Daphne and Hermione. But not once was the soul bond directly addressed. Hermione and the Weasleys left at around 10:00, Apparently they had to get ready for a trip. Daphne left soon after, leaving me alone.

If I'm being perfectly honest, I wasn't doing so well. A mind numbing amount of information had been dropped on me during a very short amount of time. The most confusing part being the soul bond (which I still didn't know much about), closely followed by the fact that I was now some sort of celebrity in a world I didn't know existed the week before. Luckily I also learned I was now rich, and having money tends to smooth things out immensely. I'm not saying it'll solve all your problems, but money certainly makes them easier to deal with.

I guess I fell asleep thinking about all this, because the next thing I knew I woke up to someone tugging on my arm. Looking down I saw an elderly witch unwrapping the bandage on my right arm. I cleared my throat, which prompted her to stop an step back. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "You're finally awake! The Weasleys said they had been talking to you, but when I came in and saw your eyes closed I thought it had been a rather one sided conversation. That does happen sometimes you know." She said that last part sadly, I got the feeling that she'd seen it happen more times than she would have liked.

She perked up quickly though, and smiled at me. "Luckily that doesn't appear to be the case after all. Just let me finish changing these bandages and then I'll be right back with some food for you. I'm sure you're famished!" Come to think of it, I was. But I was more curious about what was underneath the bandages then I was hungry. The last layer came off, and I sucked in a breath of air through my teeth. Up and down my arms there was a series of scars, reminiscent of flames licking all the way up to my biceps. "The hell..." I muttered, a bit confused. "What happened? Was this from when I punched through the dragon?" The nurse smiled wanly.

"Yes dear, I'm afraid so. I do wish we could completely heal them, but something appears to be blocking the healing. We think some of the dragons magic seeped into the cuts and latched on. It doesn't appear to do much, it just stays there and blocks the scars from fading." All was silent, save for the sound of her unwrapping my other arm. Once both bandages were off I lifted my arms up and gave them a closer look.

Honestly, they looked kinda cool. The scars just barely reminded me of flames, which made me wonder if the dragons magic had any hand in shaping the scars as well as sealing them. My arms didn't hurt at all, and the scar tissue didn't make them harder to move either. I was a little nervous about foreign magic latched to the scars, but the nurse assured me that the magic wouldn't be a problem. At my request no new bandages were added, and the nurse (she said her name was Glenda) bustled out to get me some food.

At this point I'd been awake for around five hours, and I was getting pretty antsy. I felt pretty drained, but with a low burn of pewter going in my stomach I was able to start walking around. The first thing I did was go to the window to take a look. To my surprise, the hospital didn't appear to be in Diagon alley like I had originally assumed. Instead the window overlooked a normal (to me at least) street, with busses and cars going about their business.

Turning around I walked towards the door, intending to step out and see what the rest of the hospital was like. But before I could get to the door Glenda burst in with a tray of food. She started when she saw me up and walking, a look of confusion on her face. She hurriedly set the tray down and brought out her wand. "Hold still dear, I need to run a quick test." With a flick of her wand a light green wave of light washed over me, painting me with its color. The light was particularly bright over my scars, but my whole body glowed faintly for about ten seconds before fading to normal.

Glenda cast the spell again and started walking around me. "You seem puzzled, so let me explain. This spell detects hotspots of magic in a person, we cast it before and it only faintly glowed on your scars. Certainly not along your entire body, and not nearly as brightly on the scars." Puzzled, I sat down on my bed. Then, a thought occurred. I was burning metals! I extinguished my pewter, slumping somewhat. "Here," I said. "Try it again." Glenda shrugged, and cast a third time. This time when the light passed over just my scars lit up, and only faintly. Before they faded all together I did a quick flare of my pewter, my scars flashing much brighter before fading. "Well I'll be..." said Glenda, looking somewhat amazed. "What are you doing? Never, in all my years working here, have I seen the spell behave like that."

I shrugged. "I was bur-, wait. Did the weasleys explain my abilities to you at all?" I was only just realizing that Glenda was out of the loop on what I could do. She shook her head. "I'm afraid not dear, I haven't spoken to them since yesterday." Her eyes lit up. "Why? Are you not a wizard? I've always been fascinated by other types of magic! Why, I've spent my entire life trying to learn about non-typical magics. From goblin forging to soul linkage. If you know of another type, _please_ tell me about it." I mused over this for a moment.

"Soul linkage you say? Like, soul bonds?" Glenda smiled and nodded. "Yes dear, that's why I was assigned to check in on you. Normally I work up on the fourth floor, the patients there often suffer from rather unique maladies, and my knowledge of non traditional magics can sometimes be incredibly effective. I'm afraid I haven't done much regarding your injuries, that was healer Smethwyck. I'm just here because of your bond."

"Well," I said "I'll have to thank him when I get the chance. So, do you think you could explain soul bonds to me while I eat? I promise to explain my abilities afterwards." Glenda smiled, and moved the tray of food over to me (tomato soup and grilled cheese). "Well, I should start by explaining that soul bonds are _exceedingly_ rare. And two at once? I don't think that's ever been done at all! The trouble is, due to the rarity of soul bonds there isn't a lot we know. Why, you've already given us an incredible amount to theorize over!" I frowned subtly and stopped chewing, a puzzled look on my face. Luckily, Glenda didn't leave me hanging. "Oh yes, it's nothing concrete, but I am _certain_ that your condition stabilized slightly whenever you were near one of the girls. That's why they were sleeping next to you you know."

I nodded at this, I had been wondering about that. Glenda continued. "Right now the bond is in a sort of infancy stage, it won't develop into the full bond for some time. But for now it has already cancelled any preexisting marriage contracts, and it grants you some amount of magical protection. No magic designed to manipulate the heart will have any hold on you or the girls, and anyone who attempts them will be severally punished." She paused, seeming uncertain.

"I don't quite know how everything will work for you three. Normally people who gain a soul bond are much older, let alone the fact that the girls have barely met and that they certainly don't know you." I had been worrying about this myself, and it must have been pretty visible because Glenda hurriedly tried to reassure me.

"But you don't really need to worry about that dear. First of all, the bond can be 'canceled' at this stage without any serious repercussions. But let me tell you, that would be a grave mistake. I have studied soul bonds more than just about anyone, and I have never once heard of a bonded couple who were unhappy with each other. No one knows what force governs the bonds or why they always work out, we just know that they do. This bond is a magical guarantee that you can live a long and happy life with those ladies. That being said, I'd be lying if I claimed it won't come with challenges. Especially since you three bonded so young. Their parents will most likely be upset, and there's no telling how many students at school will be angry that Daphne and Hermione are no longer available. But I promise you, if you give this relationship real effort it _will_ work out."

I sat and contemplated this for a while, Glenda took the opportunity to cast more spells and jot down notes onto a clipboard she had grabbed from the wall near my bed. After one last familiar wave of green light, she was done. "Alright then Mr. Grant, you have a clean bill of health! As long as you can walk, you're free to go. But I _do_ seem to recall a promise that you would tell me about your abilities first. Daphne is coming by tomorrow to help you find your way through Diagon alley to get your school supplies, and you're going to the Quidditch World Cup later that evening. But the rest of today is wide open, and I fully intend for you to tell me everything you know regarding your abilities." I grinned and rolled my neck. "Alright then, would you like to see a card trick?"


	6. Chapter six: That’s a lot of money

Chapter six: That's an awful lot of money.

True to my word, I explained my abilities as best I could to Glenda. She seemed fascinated by my allomancy, and begged me to keep her updated should I discover any new metals I could burn. She also wrote down the address of a metals shop in Diagon alley that might have the metals I needed. Normally the metals were used for potion ingredients, but they would work just fine.

Glenda told me that Daphne would arrive at ten o'clock, so I was seated at the bottom level of the hospital. There wasn't much to do, so I just sat on a chair watching the large fire burning in the fireplace. I didn't have much pewter left, so Glenda loaned me a hardwood cane to use until I got more.

Right as the clock struck ten the fire turned a brilliant green color, and Daphne stepped out of it. I shot to my feet (well, I tried to. I had to lean on the cane quite a bit.), and stared at Daphne in shock. She gave me a confused look in return. "What?" She asked. "You've never seen someone use the Fl... oh. You probably haven't." Now it was my turn to look confused, but she quickly clarified. "The Floo network. It lets people travel through fireplaces. Only wizards though, so we're taking a portkey to Diagon alley." She talked very quickly, never quite meeting my eyes. That hurt just a little, but I couldn't blame her. I wasn't sure how I felt about this whole situation myself, but at least it didn't ruin any plans for me.

I had no idea what this meant for Daphne and Hermione. I didn't know what plans they had for the future, or who they were interested in before I came through and messed it all up. All I knew was that supposedly, it was gaurunteed to work out. I cleared my throat and gestured to the side. "Well, I don't really know what it is, but let's go find that portkey."

Daphne checked a slip of paper she had in her hand and gestured for me to follow. "Come on, it's over this way." She led me past the front desk and into a small room full of shelves. These shelves were stocked with a myriad of objects, from shoes to rubber chickens. Daphne frowned a bit and consulted her paper once more. "It says here we need a piece of green rope. We need to hurry too, it goes off in just a couple minutes. Try not to touch anything as you search, who knows where you might end up." She crouched down to inspect the lower shelves while I scanned the higher ones. Burning tin my vision increased dramatically, letting me search the dim room with ease. After a few seconds I spotted a coil of greenish rope behind Daphne. "Hey," Daphne looked up. I leaned against a shelf and pointed with my cane. "Is that it?" Daphne turned to look and sighed with relief. "Yes, it is. We should have a few seconds left, but just in case we should grab it at the same time. Otherwise one of us will go alone and the other will be stranded here." I hooked the rope with my cane and dragged it off the shelf and onto the floor. We both crouched down and put a hand near the coil. Daphne did a countdown. "Ready... Set... Go!"

The instant my hand touched the rope it felt like I had been hooked by some invisible force and I was being dragged to some unknown destination by it. My vision went white, and when it cleared a moment later I was crouched down in an empty restaurant. I stood up to look around, noticing light coming from underneath a nearby door. Daphne stood up next to me, pocketing the rope. "It's just through there." We went through the door, walked past a bar, and wound up outside facing a familiar wall. I glanced at Daphne, puzzled. "Wait, how are you getting past? Are you gonna climb?" She looked at me incredulously, drawing her wand as she spoke. " _What?_ Why on earth would I _climb?"_ She tapped her wand against the wall and a large hole started to appear. I raised my eyebrows and set the trash can lid I had grabbed back down. "Well, that certainly looks easier than jumping."

Daphne glanced at the trash can lid and nodded in understanding. "For me, at least. I suppose you wouldn't have much trouble."

And with that, we were off. As we walked Daphne explained the order of the day. "Okay, so the first thing we need to do is get you some money. So we're going to gringotts first, then the metals shop so you no longer need the cane. After that we're getting you some school robes, then books and potion ingredients and whatnot. Lunch fits in there somewhere, I just don't know how long everything will take. The last stop is Ollivanders. I doubt we'll be successful, but we need to at least _try_ to get you a wand." I mused over this for a moment. "So, how much stuff will I actually be able to _do_ without a wand? Because I agree with you, it's worth a shot but I don't expect it will work. I'm willing to bet potions doesn't require a lot of wandwork, but what about everything else?" Daphne paused at the corner.

"Well, I don't really know. A lot of what we learn at hogwarts is just theory, it's not _all_ wandwork. But I don't know what classes you can realistically take without a wand. I don't think anyone without a wand has ever attended hogwarts before." She made eye contact, studying me shrewdly. "You should definitely take defense against the dark arts, you would have done great in it last year. I don't know exactly what this years class will be like, but I suspect you will still be able to participate. Ancient runes doesn't need a lot of wandwork, you just need a wand at the end to activate your runes. Divination might be worthless, but it doesn't require a wand either. You'll find stuff to do." I smiled gratefully, and we resumed walking.

Just as we stepped around the corner, Gringotts bank came into view. It looked like it was in perfect condition, despite the fires that had been raging in it just a few short days ago. Daphne grinned, seeing the look of shock on my face. "Yup, you don't need a wand for _everything_. But they sure can be useful sometimes." We walked up the steps, entering into the equally pristine interior.

Daphne ran ahead and began speaking with a couple goblins while I walked around admiring the statues. Each statue had a plaque on it, detailing the goblins name and how long they lived. I paused at a statue that was missing its head, glancing down at the plaque. "Bordwick the Barmy 1671-1702" someone cleared their throat behind me, and I turned around to see a goblin in a green uniform. He gestured to the plaque. "This was an ancestor of mine. He always loved dragons, tried to keep them as pets he did. That all ended on his thirty first birthday when a present of his bit off his head." I nearly choked as I tried to hold back my laughter, just now realizing why this statue in particular was missing it's head. "Really now? How interesting." The goblin turned around and gestured for me to follow. "Anyway, come along now. We need to go to your vault. My name is Bardick, I am your account keeper. My job is to handle your account and any investments you would like to make in the future."

I followed him over to a door in the back, where we were joined by Daphne. After a hair raising ride through the tunnels, we came to a stop near a large set of doors. We all got out, and Bardick began fiddling around with different locks and tapping random spots on the door. Then, he stepped back and the doors swung open on their own, revealing stacks upon stacks of gold and silver coins. Daphne gasped softly, and I just stood there. Rooted in place by shock. _Surely this can't_ all _be mine._

I reached out a hand, and a gold coin leaped off the top of a pile and flew into it. I traced the engravings on the coin with my thumb as Bardick started talk. "We hired someone to render down the dragon on your behalf. He is expected to finish in about a week, at which time the remains will be brought down here for you do use however you please." Daphne handed me a sack. "We should grab about thirty of each coin for your school supplies, plus whatever you want as pocket change. I nodded numbly, readying my iron and picking out the lines of the coins I wanted. I gestured for Daphne and Bardick to stand back, as I turned the bag inside out and placed it over my hand.

Leaning against a wall for support I yanked around a hundred coins to my hand at once, forming a large ball. Keeping the coins stuck to my hand I flipped the bag back, and that was that. Daphne nodded approvingly, and Bardick looked at me in shock, his eyes moving from the bag in my hand, to the rest of my arm. He looked at my scars with a bit of wonder, then snapped out of it and went back to being professional.

"Alright then, looks like you're ready. I nodded, snagging a couple galleons and a handful of knuts with a quick burst of iron as we walked out the door. Daphne explained the currency to me on the way back, and we soon stepped out of the bank and into the street. My pockets heavy with gold, and my heart light with excitement, we walked to the metals shop.


End file.
